Book One: The Forest of Kokuei
by Hizou Koguma
Summary: The Akatsuki have taken over the world but they don't have all the Bijuu! Follow Sakura and her friends as they try to survive on the upper world as Jigai. But that isn't easy with the many new creatures and Akatsuki following them every step of the way.
1. Prologue

Well here is the prologue, if you are a person who really likes to know what is going on and such you should read it, no Naruto characters have shown up yet so yeah lol.

Disclamier: My only disclamier cause if you don't know who made Naruto you aren't a true fan!

**Japanese Key:**

Ankokujidai - The Dark Ages  
Shinobi - Ninja  
Jigai - Suicide  
Kokuei - Dark shadow, silhouette  
Kunoichi - Female Ninja

* * *

It began 3 years ago, the world went into a state of chaos; of course we named it Ankokujidai go figure, villages had been attacked, the world literally expanded, the philosophers didn't understand what was happening, ten new forests had suddenly appeared all over the world and each one unleashing completely new species, there have been rumors of new islands as well but they haven't been recorded...yet.

These monsters wreaked havoc on everything they saw as a threat, they were intelligent some not so much, but worst of all was the fact the Shinobi who were the protectors of the villages had to adapt to a new way of fighting, the stench's some of the creatures gave off were horrendous, the sight was not one to behold, they were the ugliest creatures and largest creatures you could ever lay your eyes on, many Shinobi have died because of ill preparation for battle, a group of these monsters could come into a village and wipe it out within an hour.

There are now underground cities and only a certain group goes out for supplies they are specialized in defeating these monsters we call them the Jigai, they even call themselves that, for it truly is suicidal to go out for mere food and have to fight off these terrifying monsters.

I had been a Jigai once…I was a protected by my fellows so I hadn't seen battle for they believed a Kunoichi should not have to do such things, but the first creature I saw was my last, I had wandered off into the tenth most dangerous forest at least that is what the scrolls said, I still remember the forest's name it was The Forest of Kokuei, a dark place indeed it was.

A forest of swords is what my team called it.

We had to go inside the border of the forest and if you my friends ever become a Jigai you will know never to go deep into the forest for you will be killed I have no doubt of that. The forest's plants were alive, I am living proof of this…for I had been pulled in deep as we were almost out of the damned place, the vines dug into my right leg and I was pulled for I do not know how long but when I stopped and dangled as if I were a fish about to be swallowed whole I saw the plant no…monster, its head if you would like to call it was the size of a house, the body even bigger. When it opened its mouth I saw row after row of teeth, the farther back they got the smaller yet…every single one was similar to a shark tooth, I panicked and could do nothing but wait for it to eat me alive.

Yet it never came, the sound I thought I would hear as my bones were crushed under its many teeth, the screams I would bellow, the last thought I would have before my death, it did not come but instead I fell.

I had gone unconscious for the first time in my life and awoke in my room, as you know at that time I had been one of the many people to live underground although when I tried to get up I could not for half of my left leg was gone, I learned afterward that the creature had let go due to the vine holding me being cut but there were many other vines and it grabbed on after I had fallen out of its grasp but took half my leg as my saviors protected me…I could not be a Jigai any longer nor did I want to be one.

Children, adults, Shinobi, anyone reading this scroll…please know that the world has changed and there is nothing we can do to stop it but survive, the last thing I can say is that as this happens there are people who have learned to control the monsters, you may think of this as good but it is not, these people are horrible, I've never seen one of them but I've heard stories from my old comrades. I can't say any more for my time is limited, I am the medic of the city and it seems the Jigai have found others from villages that had been destroyed, we get many newcomers because of how close we are to villages all I can leave you with is to be careful and trust no stranger.

Emiko.

* * *

Well there you have it! Don't worry for those of you who read this, Naruto characters shall show up in the first chapter! 


	2. Run!

Well here is the first chapter! And here my friends is the translation for some of the words!

**Japanese Key:**

Kunoichi - Female Ninja  
Jigai - Suicide  
Baka - Idiot  
Bijuu - Spirit (Basically the Kyuubi)  
Kokuei - Dark shadow, silhouette  
Nijuushin - Doppleganger

There you go! I believe Kyuubi is obvious so I didn't put the translation for that lol (If I have any of the translations wrong please tell me)

* * *

"Sakura, are you ok?" Shikamaru asked snapping the pink haired kunoichi out of a daze.

"I'm fine…but this scroll I found under this bed is about someone's life." She said handing it to him, he read over it quickly and nodded, "This is from the medic…why would she write of such things on a scroll?" he asked puzzled, "Probably because when they fled this underground city she wanted to leave information for whoever came across here, it's only smart since she was also a Jigai." Sakura said sitting on the dusty bed that had probably not been used for months.

Shikamaru nodded in agreement but before he could speak a loud mouthed Naruto came running into the room. "You guys! There aren't any bodies at all." He said in a panicky voice, "It's because everyone left," Shikamaru said handing him the scroll. After a few minutes Naruto scratched his head confused, "This says nothing about them fleeing, how do you know they left?" Sakura sighed "Because baka no one is here, if they were infiltrated there would have been dead bodies, though we just need to know why the left."

"Sakura is right, but from reading the scroll it seems we might be getting ourselves into something we shouldn't" Shikamaru said looking from Sakura to Naruto.

* * *

"Pein you've been acting quiet lately are you ok?" Konan asked putting a hand on his shoulder, "No…something is wrong terribly wrong." He said brushing her hand off coldly.

Konan hadn't understood why he had been so restless lately, he had been sending other members out to scout for anything out of the ordinary, spy on the upper world villages, everything but look for the Kyuubi boy, the last Bijuu they needed, none of them understood how he could be out of their perimeter for so long especially since all of the upper world villages and three of the ten forest's were under Akatsuki's control, they had only infiltrated twenty-five underground cities out of the three years Akatsuki has been in power.

Madara suggested looking for the rumored islands that had suddenly been created thinking the Kyuubi boy might have fled to one of them but never once had they found any. But reports of the ships returning never came meaning they had crashed and died or gotten caught in a storm of some sort, of course Pein and a few of the other members didn't believe it was mother nature's fault.

"Konan, the underground city we found a week ago…are you sure no one was there?" Pein asked snapping Konan out of her thoughts, "Very sure, I'm guessing they were all killed days after they left it's almost impossible to travel without encountering some type of creature and they were so close to the forest, some of the creatures don't even stay in the forest and migrate outside of them and attack wandering animals and such, I wouldn't be surprised if a report came of a group of dead bodies soon," She responded.

"I see I am quiet busy please when Itachi and Kisame get back tell them to go to that underground city to find something-"

"Out of the ordinary? You always say this, why aren't we looking for the Kyuubi, Pein?" Konan said cutting him off.

"Did you not notice we do not have total control of all the forests? Even the ones we have control over we barely have control over, we need to get rid of these rebels, and find out how to use these creatures to our advantage, you know the plan Konan yet you still defy me? You defy Madara? What is your reasoning for this?" Pein said, you could tell he was angry which barely ever happened.

"I'm just weary, we have so much power yet we know the full extent of the Kyuubi and his friends and we are not searching for him? We haven't even found Konoha's underground city, I trust you, and I trust Madara I just think were acting too relaxed, and you out of all people should now what it is like to have power then lose it all of a sudden out of know where." She answered back in the same tone, if there is one thing she learned while knowing Pein it was to not act intimidated by him.

"Hmm, you should not worry I am not as stupid as you think I am Konan, and I appreciate your concern and if you don't mind I want you to do exactly what I asked you to do in the first place because we don't have time to waste."

Was that a glare she saw on his face just now? If so that meant he took her words into consideration, she nodded and smiled in triumph as she walked out the doors of his quarters.

* * *

"It has to be Akatsuki, they must have left because of them it's the only plausible reason, the creatures in Kokuei can't be behind their leaving, and they aren't smart enough for such a thing." Shikamaru said getting into his thinking position, "That may be true but do we really know all the creatures in that forest? I've never seen the name of the person who recorded the information of the forest meaning the scrolls information might be a lie," Sakura responded.

"Sakura-chan is right, but I say we go back and report this to the old hag, they will probably send Kibas team out to search for the people who lived here." Naruto said gesturing to the rest of the team who were Sai and Kakashi, "Wow Naruto you finally thought of something useful," Shikamaru teased while Sakura berated him for insulting her master.

* * *

It had been two hours and thirteen minutes since they all left the city, they passed through the border of the forest with ease which made them all happy, and it had begun to get dark about an hour before "Lets rest for the remainder of the night everyone, it's to dangerous to keep going," Kakashi said stopping and taking off his backpack.

"Sakura I'll need you to go get some firewood please," Kakashi asked as he got out his sleeping bag, Sakura nodded in return and went to search with Sai accompanying her along the way.

"If Akatsuki had been responsible for the city being abandoned wouldn't there have been signs of struggle? Everything seemed in its correct place as if they left because of some sort of report or maybe sighting." Sai said handing Sakura pieces of wood, Sakura sighed taking the wood, she would have punched him straight in the face for making her do all the work but what he said was true and made her think twice. "I was thinking that also, If-"

They both looked in front of them to see a small child mere feet away from them, Sakura was about to step forward but Sai stopped her before she could advance, "Don't you think it's odd there is a child out here of all places?" he said in a whisper tone, "The child might have been with the group who fled the city but got lost, what else could she be?" Sakura responded back as she moved Sai out of her way.

The child moved forward towards her but was stopped as a kunai had gone her way, the child did a back flip onto a nearby branch on a tree and glared at the offender, "Kakashi-sensei what are you doing!" Sakura yelled out.

"Sakura that is no child do you not see its eyes?" He responded appearing next to her with Naruto by his side, Sakura looked at the child more closely to see that its eyes were indeed different, "She has…no pupils only red eyes." She said in disbelief, the child frowned and lunged towards Sakura, Kakashi lunged at her before she could hit Sakura and delivered a kunai at it but the so called child jumped back before it came in contact with its stomach.

They all immediatly got into a battle stance as they watched Kakashi and the child battle it out, "I can barely see them, what is that creature?" Naruto said looking at Sakura who was as surprised as him, "Not sure, I'm guessing it isn't human though" Sai responded.

Kakashi had finally dealt a blow to the creature, He rejoined his teammates raising his hand to his face and raising his Ninja headband revealing his Sharingan, the creature recovered and grinned maliciously at him, "Looks like we have a nijuushin on our hands" Shikamaru said stepping beside Sai, "Wait…those creatures aren't even supposed to be in this region, they're supposed to be near the Rain village, don't they protect the borders and are controlled by the Akatsuki?" Sakura said not believing Shikamarus words.

"Correct but if that's true that means Akatsuki sent them." Both Sakura and Naruto looked at Shikamaru in horror, "That…means if this creature gets away Akatsuki will be one step closer to getting Naruto," Sakura said looking down at her feet.

"Shikamaru…I told you to stay at the camp why didn't you do as I said?" Kakashi said glaring at Shikamaru, "Sorry but that's the other thing there are 3 more of those nijuushin following me, I don't stand a chance against three." Shikamaru said getting out his own kunai and looking behind him.

"We can't let these creatures get away or else we'll be risking Narutos life," Sai said getting into a fighting stance, "Right, any idea how to kill these things," Shikamaru asked looking towards Sakura, "Yes…but what I'm more afraid of is-"she stopped as the ground shook beneath them.

"The…creatures that accompany these ones" Sakura continued, "Shit, we don't stand a chance against these, they are the size of the Kyuubi itself, I think it would be smart if we split up, me, and Sai, Shikamaru, Naruto, and Kakashi-sensei," Sakura said looking at all of them to see if they agreed, they all nodded knowing that Sakura was right, Sakura looked at Sai and nodded.

* * *

Sakura and Sai had been running frantically getting as far away from the large creature that trailed them as possible but not to far away to loose track of Naruto and the others. "This is bad, how can it see us so late at night?" Sai asked stopping to catch his breath.

"Night vision these giants may be stupid as hell but they see very well, you would think with how big they are they would be one of the more intelligent creatures but the nijuushin are by far one of the smartest," Sakura responded looking at the creature 20 yards away, "I don't think it can see us, it's looking around frantically," Sai said watching as it started walking left.

"Righ-" Sakura let out a scream as the branch she was standing on gave way, Sai caught her just in time before she fell, she looked at him with wide eyes, the ground shook violently, Sai let her down grabbing onto her hand guiding her to a safe area so the now running giant could not smash them.

"Shit I'm sorry I didn't think the branch would give way so suddenly!" Sakura exclaimed while pulling her hand out of Sais grasp.

"It's ok. Look we'll hide here until it passes," he said pointing to inside a small cave, "Fine" Sakura responded entering the damp cave almost screaming again, a huge centipede had walked out as they walked in.

She glared a Sais back for bringing them to a cave out of all places to hide, she was about to insult him when she felt something touch her shoulder, she spun around only to be punched in the gut flying into the back of the cave.

She heard Sai yell her name and opened her eyes only to be met with crimson eyes staring at her.

* * *

_WELL That's the first chapter! I hope you all liked it! I wonder who punched Sakura :O Wait I know who punched her. XD _

_R&R!!!! Also Sasuke IS in this fic so all you Sasuke lovers don't worry lol. (I won't be mean to him even though I don't like him at all what-so-ever) OK I'll try not to :3_


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